Parker Mountain (Mica Mine and Plane Crash Site) 5-31-15

vftt.org

Help Support vftt.org:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

WeRmudfun

New member
Joined
Jan 28, 2013
Messages
169
Reaction score
0
Location
Southern NH
This adventure brought us to Parker Mountain in Strafford, NH, not to be confused with Mount Parker in Bartlett, NH. This mountain had a few things about it that we liked, that being a Plane Crash Site, a Mine and Geocaching. Plus it was suppose to rain a lot, so we wanted to stay close to home.
On the way to the mountain, we stopped on RT 102 to try and get a huge snapping turtle off the road, before it got hit. We were successfully and she went happily on her way down the embankment. Our good deed for the day. :cool:
To the trailhead…we parked at the Spencer Smith Trail on RT 126 and headed out to the mine first. We started a bushwhack to it and we ended up finding the old road/trail/herdpath that lead us right to the mine. It was operated from the 1880’s until 1959. Mostly surface mica and feldspar. It’s wasn’t as cool as the Paddock mine that we went to before, this one was an opencut, not a tunnel. It was still a cool find though.
Back at the trailhead seeing how it was so humid, we decided to leave the rain gear in the car, a mistake? Yes it was. :eek: We ended up getting drenched and the temperature dropped fast, but that was at the end of the day. Anyway, we started up the trail which seemed somewhat flat in the beginning, but it was not long before the we hit ups then it leveled a bit then up again until the summit. When we got up to the viewpoint, we could see the storm working its way to us off in the distance. Trail conditions going up were fine and dry, we were able to find 4 geocaches for the day.
The plan was to go up the Spencer Smith Trail and come down the Link Trail to the Mooers Trail, but 0.3 miles from the summit the skies opened up and it poured. We went and hit the summit anyway, but decided to abort going further to see the Bow Lake viewpoint. There is no doubt when you hit the summit, the cairn is HUGE! Seeing how the Spencer Smith Trail was a wide trail and the Link Trail appeared to be narrower, we decided to head out the same way we came in with the exception of a bushwhack down to the 1946 Plane Crash Site on the north slope of the mountain.
It was a steep bushwhack down and with the fact of on and off rain, it made it a little slick, but we made it down to the crash site. There are 3 main areas of wreckage that we found. 3 people did lose their lives on that plane. That is the toughest part for us at these sites, they are cool find, but also sad stories. We hope that they are at peace.
By the time we got back down to the trailhead, we looked like a couple of wet, cold dogs. It was nice to get in the car and put the heat on. Funny thing was we used the AC to get there. Gotta love New England! :D

 
Top